


Shalect

by Jestana



Category: Original Work
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, Gen, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 06:56:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17617637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jestana/pseuds/Jestana
Summary: Inspired by the exhibit calledShalechet(Falling Leaves) at the Jewish Memorial Museum in Berlin. It's a large, echoing room, the floor covered with iron faces of all sorts of shapes and sizes and visitors are invited to walk across them. Of course, since they're all made of iron, there was no way to do it quietly. As I and the rest of my group walked across, the noise of so many people doing it struck me and I wrote the following poem.





	Shalect

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the exhibit called _Shalechet_ (Falling Leaves) at the Jewish Memorial Museum in Berlin. It's a large, echoing room, the floor covered with iron faces of all sorts of shapes and sizes and visitors are invited to walk across them. Of course, since they're all made of iron, there was no way to do it quietly. As I and the rest of my group walked across, the noise of so many people doing it struck me and I wrote the following poem.

One person steps upon the "leaves"  
Single, isolated clinks of iron upon iron  
Individuals executed by the Nazis  
One voice silenced

Two people step upon the "leaves"  
Pairs of clinks compete with each other  
Small families executed by the Nazis  
Several voices silenced

A small group steps upon the "leaves"  
More clinks of iron, more echoes  
Entire villages executed by the Nazis  
Several hundred voices silenced

A large group steps upon the "leaves"  
A cacophony of clinks assaults the ears  
Twelve million people executed by the Nazis  
Twelve million voices silenced

One person steps off the "leaves"  
Silence  
Two people step off the "leaves"  
Silence  
A small group steps off the "leaves"  
Silence  
A large group steps off the "leaves"  
Silence  
The echoes fade away into...

Silence


End file.
